Windows 2019

Magic in every one
Montreal, QC
January 2019
This photo originally shared on Instagram

These aren't just any windows, and this isn't just any building. I feel like a voyeur pointing my lens toward them and trying to shoot a photo. But I need to do so for two reasons:

First, photography - especially of things outside the glass - provides a temporary release from the insanity that's playing out inside it, a time-out, if you will, from watching someone you love go through something you wouldn't wish on anyone.

Second, the people in the offices across the courtyard are medical professionals - doctors, nurses, researchers, administrators - who either treat the sick, or look for ways to eradicate sickness altogether. And I hope the folks who come here for treatment, and the families who support them, are able to take a moment to think about the thousands of people responsible for their care, and what it took for them to get there. Because you don't get to sit behind one of these windows (or more likely run endlessly around the floors of this giant complex) unless you're truly extraordinary.

The architecture may be late-90s health-care chic, the kind of building designed expressly to have a donor family's name emblazoned in giant letters above the entrance. But beyond the one-time ribbon-cutting event, this building doesn't exist to wow anyone. Its mission is to create an environment where hope can be returned to those without it. Or compassion and care can be shared with those who may have no hope at all.

My original goal here was to simply shoot the most linear, aligned photo possible. But as I endlessly played with the camera - geometry was never my thing - I realized there was so much more to this scene. I always enjoy when the simple act of shooting a scene manages to open my eyes just a little bit more. My fears of being a voyeur notwithstanding, perhaps I need to spend more time staring out windows, wherever I may be.

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